STREET SIGNING TO AN EXTENDED DEAL POINTS PADRES IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION

I mean, I am not implying that people ought to start planning where they’ll set up on downtown sidewalks for the ticker tape parade in October 2013.

What I am implying is progress. A plan for growth.

Josh Byrnes has parlayed trades he made in December into building blocks laid in July.

Clearly, what’s underway is an attempt to reverse history, to stem the attrition and to no longer be awful.

For now, that should be celebrated.

I certainly hope it’s a sign we can expect even more wheeling and dealing in November, after the O’Malley family has officially taken over ownership and says to Byrnes something we worried no Padres general manager would ever hear again: “Go spend some money.”

Otherwise, who cares? The extensions given Huston Street and Carlos Quentin are simply advancement, indications that the new will not be the old.

This is a journey.

“We’re happy to keep them rather than turning the roster,” Byrnes said. “… It’s the next step in a long process.”

Think of the possibilities. The Padres keep this up and maybe there could be so much hullabaloo that it results in more than 58 percent of the county being able to see them on TV next year.

The Padres on Sunday extended Street through 2014 at a cost of $14 million. Just a week ago, the team that so often casts off its best parts this time of year made a $27 million investment in Quentin, locking him up through ’15.

Street is a closer with enough of a history to go with current results that you can consider ninth-inning leads safe for a while. Quentin isn’t a cornerstone, but he is solid enough to be built around in the middle of the lineup.

There are signs these Padres are progressing.

They have won 23 of their past 42 games. That’s not AL East good. But it’s one game better than San Francisco, three games better than Arizona and five games better than the Dodgers over that span.

Yasmani Grandal is batting .312 with five home runs in 22 games. Edinson Volquez is 3-0 with a 1.36 ERA in his past six starts.

Consider, too, that at least some (not all) of the injured players in 2012 will be positive contributors in ’13, and we can at least agree that there are reasons for optimism.

“I’ve felt good about the direction,” Byrnes said, making sure to credit predecessor Jed Hoyer with emphasizing the remodeling of the franchise’s thin minor-league system. “Now we’re seeing some progress.”

But playing better isn’t good enough. On their way is not even close to arrived.

This is pleasant momentum.

Those who are familiar with the pending ownership group predict a significantly higher Padres payroll in 2013. The O’Malley family will certainly invest enough to lift the Padres out of the bottom five, where they’ve been four straight years.

Byrnes was tempering expectations Sunday afternoon.

“As happy as we are with these contracts,” he said, “they’re fairly sizable.”

He cautioned that what he has to spend this winter won’t be “infinite.”

The Padres need a right fielder, some pitching and maybe a shortstop upgrade.

With a little more leeway in free agency and some trades like those he made last December, we can at least be looking forward to something.